Winnie Harlow
I wasn't part of the BeyHive before I met her, but after my experience working with her, meeting her, I'm a die-hard fan.
Funnily enough, of course I've always thought B was amazing, but I've never been, like, 'Beyhive status'... until actually meeting her. I would honestly drop anything I'm doing to work for her again. Not just because of who she is but because of my experience with her filming for two days.
I feel like I pull inspiration from everyone, and I feel like I'm honored and grateful that people feel that they can pull inspiration from me, be inspired by me. But I definitely don't think I'm a role model. I'm not someone to be imitated.
There wasn't anyone who was specifically taking me under their wing. I definitely looked up to people, though, one major person being Naomi Campbell, of course. That's, like, a given.
I've always been a lot about beauty and products, and skincare and make-up.
I've been doing my own makeup since I was 15. I would steal my mom's products, go online, watch YouTube videos of girls doing their makeup, and try.
When I was in high school, I wanted to be so thick that I'd eat all the pizza and all the McDonald's and everything.
I don't do much cooking because it's impossible when you travel so much. You go grocery shopping, buy everything, and then get a call to fly out for two weeks. By the time you're back, all the food is rotten.
If you're not drinking enough water, or you're not eating enough vegetables, or you're not working out enough, or you're not getting your toxins out, I feel like it always reflects.
To be completely honest, I never thought I could become a model growing up. I actually wanted to be an entertainment journalist.
Nick Knight was my first big gig as a 'real' model. Prior to and during 'ANTM,' I never actually called myself a model because I always viewed it as a hobby.
I want to see different faces on the covers of magazines, the stars of movies, featured on billboards.
My sense of fashion has developed a lot.
Like any other kid, I was trying so hard to fit in that school made no sense to me. I wasn't attending class; I was trying to hang out in the caf with the cool kids. I was always trying to be cool.
I'm very sick of talking about my skin.
With my skin, I have to avoid direct contact with the sun, so that, combined with my mom being conservative, meant I grew up wearing stockings under shorts and long sleeves under tank tops. It was kind of embedded in me that I was supposed to be covering up.
I try to keep my skincare routine very simple and don't put too much on my face.
A lot of people ask me how I keep my skin fairly smooth and avoid breakouts, and I think that's because I always take off my make-up before I go to bed, and I mean really take it off.
If I'm running around or just hanging out at home, then I barely wear any make-up.
I love to play with make-up. I adapt my beauty look to my outfit, so as soon as I know what I'm wearing, I know if I want to go for a red lip or a smoky eye. I usually won't put those two together, but it all depends on what outfit I'm going for.
I am literally just a human. I have the same brain as you; there's a skeleton under my skin just like yours.
I'm not a vitiligo spokesperson just because I have vitiligo.
I feel like I am an inspiration. That's the word I prefer. I don't believe that I have to be a role model, someone to be emulated.
The only person that can make you feel that you aren't beautiful is you.
You can't let someone else lower your self-esteem, because that's what it is - self-esteem. You need to first love yourself before you have anybody else love you.
Chantelle Winnie is my birth name. Chantelle Winnie Harlow, I call her my Sasha Fierce.
I definitely hope and I feel that I am inspiring, but I don't like the word 'role model.'
I feel like people put too much on the title of a role model.
I don't perm my hair anymore, but I'm not a natural hair expert just because it grows out of my head like that.
I love myself the way I am, but people will always message me about other people with vitiligo who cover their skin. 'Winnie Harlow, you need to tell them that they need to love themselves the way they are and stop covering their skin!' No! If that's what makes them comfortable and what makes them happy, let them be.
I could more label myself as even a spokeswoman for happiness!
We lived on our own for a very long time, and those are my happiest years, me and my mom.
For me personally, I have vitiligo, so my whole career, it's always been this very odd debate: 'Does she want to be white? Is she white and black? Is her mum white?' It's always been this question of my background, my race, and what I stand for.
My modelling career is about hard work.
When I was young, I was picked on for something that today I feel is amazing. One thing about me connects millions of people around the world. And it's my skin condition - vitiligo.
Chantelle Brown-Young is my real name. Winnie is my nickname that I was given as a teenager, and it has stuck with me. I've combined my real name and my nick name to create 'Chantelle Winnie.' My alter ego, where I seek confidence when I model, is 'Winnie Harlow.'
I am not my skin. I am a model with a skin condition.
Kids called me a cow and mooed at me.
I'm happy to inspire your seven-year-old child, but I do not want to be her role model.
I give kudos to people like Zendaya who are like, 'Yes, I want to inspire young kids.' And I'm like, 'Girl, that's a lot of work!'
I more so appreciate people loving the fact that I love myself and not just glorifying my skin or me.
My mom will sometimes call me Winnie. It's so annoying. I'm like, 'Who are you talking to?'
If God wanted be to be black, I'd be black; if he wanted me to be white, I'd be white, so I guess He chose for me to be both and original. That's the way I'm supposed to be.
My skin's not a normal sight. When a photographer says, 'I don't know what it is, but that's just not it...' I know. They like the different colours of my skin. They're not getting them with a particular outfit.
If humans want to see the same types of people over and over, that's what industries will give us. If we want to see something different, that's what they'll have to give us.
I don't want to be put in a category.
I don't think it's good to focus on being celebrated but to celebrate yourself.